DAY

Social Issues in Education

SPRING SEMESTER 1995 ?

J. Dawson

DESCRIPTION

This course will examine social issues in education within their historical and cultural contexts.

The objectives of the course are:

- to encourage students to think seriously about the nature of education and schooling and

to consider the relationship between education, schooling, and major social, political,

and economic institutions in society

- to stimulate an interest in and a concern for the future of education in Canada

The emphasis in the course will be on (but not limited to) education in Canada. Education will

be broadly conceived and discussion will not be limited to schools and schooling.

TOPICS WILL INCLUDE:

The Origin, Nature, and Purpose of Schooling

Schooling and Social Control

Inequalities in Education

Children, Education, and the Media

Children Without Childhood

Children at Risk

Prejudice and Intolerance in Schooling

Schooling and Assimilation

COURSE ASSESSMENT

Written assignments and/or tests and class participation

REQUIRED BOOKS

John Gatto.

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling.

Neil Postman.

The Disappearance of Childhood.

Marlene Webber.

Street Kids: The Tragedy of Canada's Runaways.

Linda Jaine, ed.

Residential Schools: The Stolen Years.

RECOMMENDED READING

Jonathan Kozol.

Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools.

Neil Postman.

Amusing Ourselves to Death.

This outline is subject to change.